La Ronde Discussion Thread

[USCoaster]

A very delayed TR but here it is anyway...

 

I spent a couple hours in La Ronde the day before Leviathan Bash in July and while I loved the park, I hated the operations. I didn't get a Flash Pass because I didn't want to spend the money and the crowds looked light enough that I thought I should be OK. For the most part I was correct and I think if I had paid for one for the 4 hours I spent in the park, I would have regretted it later.

 

I missed out on two of the Vekoma credits (not that I'm too sad about that) because the Boomerang and SLC were both closed. I was pleasantly surprised by not being bashed about too much by the Vekoma Corkscrew but not enough to ride a second time.

 

Vampire was Batman (no complaints from me).

 

Le Cobra was surprisingly fun considering I had heard less than great things about the smoothness of the old non-B&M stand-up coasters and the fact that maintenance was welding something in the brake run when the park opened. The nice pop of airtime in the front row was unexpected but definitely a plus. (Something I always wish the Riddler's Revenge's hill that used to jump Freefall had more of.)

 

I only managed to get the right side (standing in the station looking in the direction the trains travel) of Le Monstre due to one train operation and somebody losing their lunch on the left side while I was waiting for my ride. On a side note, Flash Pass only gets you onto the left side of Le Monstre. If you want to ride the right track, you will have to wait in line.

 

Goliath was a lot of fun and I managed to get 4-5 rides on it thanks to 2 train operation and a line that never really left the station while I was there. It was my first B&M mini-hyper and my first experience with B&M's lap restraints. Overall I liked the ride, but I wasn't sure where to place it considering I would be at Wonderland the next day riding Behemoth and Leviathan.

 

Dragon was also a lot of fun and a complete surprise. I would have missed it if I hadn't decided to walk over near the ferris wheel to see if I could get any good pictures of the SLC. I guess I should do better research before heading out to new parks.

 

I didn't try to get on the kiddie coaster and gave up on the Bobsled themed mouse after realizing it was 2 pm and I still had to drive to Toronto and that the line would take me an hour to get through.

 

Overall I think I had a generally favorable outlook on the park. I thought that other than Goliath, the operations were pretty terrible. With the two train operations, the returning train would sit on the brake run for 30 seconds before the train ahead was dispatched but it wasn't really anything to complain about. Like many of the Six Flags Parks, I think that it could use a nice chunk of change spent on maintenance, paint, and general sprucing up (went to SFNE, SFA, and Great Escape this year, SFMM, and SFDK were former home parks). That said, I have multiple pictures of the peeling red paint on the former concrete dolphin (?) stadium you have to walk around to get to Le Cobra. The worlds fair modern design of the building was pretty awesome and I thought the peeling paint just seemed to add that much to the atmosphere.

 

I will definitely try to get back to the park next year to try and get the missing credits and as part of a real visit to Montreal. Due to the limited time, I never actually made it across the river into Montreal proper.

[simaticable]

A socialist country!

Or just a common park policy...

[booink]

A very delayed TR but here it is anyway...

 

I spent a couple hours in La Ronde the day before Leviathan Bash in July and while I loved the park, I hated the operations. I didn't get a Flash Pass because I didn't want to spend the money and the crowds looked light enough that I thought I should be OK. For the most part I was correct and I think if I had paid for one for the 4 hours I spent in the park, I would have regretted it later.

 

I missed out on two of the Vekoma credits (not that I'm too sad about that) because the Boomerang and SLC were both closed. I was pleasantly surprised by not being bashed about too much by the Vekoma Corkscrew but not enough to ride a second time.

 

Vampire was Batman (no complaints from me).

 

Le Cobra was surprisingly fun considering I had heard less than great things about the smoothness of the old non-B&M stand-up coasters and the fact that maintenance was welding something in the brake run when the park opened. The nice pop of airtime in the front row was unexpected but definitely a plus. (Something I always wish the Riddler's Revenge's hill that used to jump Freefall had more of.)

 

I only managed to get the right side (standing in the station looking in the direction the trains travel) of Le Monstre due to one train operation and somebody losing their lunch on the left side while I was waiting for my ride. On a side note, Flash Pass only gets you onto the left side of Le Monstre. If you want to ride the right track, you will have to wait in line.

 

Goliath was a lot of fun and I managed to get 4-5 rides on it thanks to 2 train operation and a line that never really left the station while I was there. It was my first B&M mini-hyper and my first experience with B&M's lap restraints. Overall I liked the ride, but I wasn't sure where to place it considering I would be at Wonderland the next day riding Behemoth and Leviathan.

 

Dragon was also a lot of fun and a complete surprise. I would have missed it if I hadn't decided to walk over near the ferris wheel to see if I could get any good pictures of the SLC. I guess I should do better research before heading out to new parks.

 

I didn't try to get on the kiddie coaster and gave up on the Bobsled themed mouse after realizing it was 2 pm and I still had to drive to Toronto and that the line would take me an hour to get through.

 

Overall I think I had a generally favorable outlook on the park. I thought that other than Goliath, the operations were pretty terrible. With the two train operations, the returning train would sit on the brake run for 30 seconds before the train ahead was dispatched but it wasn't really anything to complain about. Like many of the Six Flags Parks, I think that it could use a nice chunk of change spent on maintenance, paint, and general sprucing up (went to SFNE, SFA, and Great Escape this year, SFMM, and SFDK were former home parks). That said, I have multiple pictures of the peeling red paint on the former concrete dolphin (?) stadium you have to walk around to get to Le Cobra. The worlds fair modern design of the building was pretty awesome and I thought the peeling paint just seemed to add that much to the atmosphere.

 

I will definitely try to get back to the park next year to try and get the missing credits and as part of a real visit to Montreal. Due to the limited time, I never actually made it across the river into Montreal proper.

Nice trip report ! Happy to see you liked the park (except for the operations, which I admit are horrible !)

[Lareson]

I don't know if this has been brought up yet or is mentioned by the park, looked back a few pages, but it looks like Monstre is going to receive a brand new set of PTC trains!

 

http://philadelphiatoboggancoastersinc.com/projects.php

 

Six Flags La Ronde - Le Monstre - Track 2

12 New 2 Seat Articulating Cars, 2 New Trains

 

Six Flags La Ronde - Le Monstre - Track 1

12 New 2 Seat Articulating Cars, 2 New Trains

 

So they're articulating cars. Has there been any made yet?

 

Also, don't let the 2 seat confuse you with the PTC single row cars they've been trying to market. It's their standard 4-passenger cars.

[SharkTums]

Interesting, but I doubt it will make a real difference in ride quality.

[cal1br3tto]

Why didn't I see this coming? They had such serious (or at least high-profile) issues with the old lap bars.

 

The Morgan trains did have shared lap bars, but with only one pop of airtime per side, their loss is nothing to mourn.

[bottom_feeder_13]

Its a bit of a shame to lose those awesome designs on the front of the cars, that will almost certainly not be on the new trains.

[3Mutts]

Interesting, I didn't think Le Monstre was that bad of ride. Glad to see them getting rid of the Morgans, as those suck. Also do we know if it is the standard PTC 2 seat or their new trains that tracks like Millennium Flyers?

[Lareson]

According to PTC's specs, they're "2 Seat," meaning the standard 2x2 passenger cars. They call the single-row cars "1 Seat."

 

Even though this looks like it's "polishing a turd," it should at least ride better than those crappy Morgan trains. Considering that PTC has pretty much built a set of new trains every year so far and refurbishing a lot of them for major parks, PTC certainly is getting back in better shape.

 

Also the fact that Six Flags is ordering these new is another thing. They could of done a hack job of putting Rattler and Texas Giant's old trains together to make the 4 trains, but this is better and seems very un-Six Flags, if you know what I mean.

[CanadaCoasterKid]

This is really, really good news, they always had a broken train so they had 3 (!) train operation so 1 side was moving twice as fast as the other.

[rcdude]

While PTC trains are better than Morgan trains, I doubt it will make much of a difference on this particular ride. Other than possibly speeding up loading times due to a simpler restraint system, new trains probably won't have much of an impact, if any, on Monstre.

[GayCoasterGuy]

The PTCs won't make it an outstanding ride by any means, but should make the ride a bit better. But over time, it may get rougher as the PTCs are heavier and ride harsher than the plastic Morgan trains. Eons ago (the 80s) PTC was the *it* coaster train simply because Morgans were being put on formerly world class coasters (Texas Cyclone, Colossus and Riverside/New England Cyclone) and that change of train killed those rides reputation and experience. The Santa Cruz Giant Dipper is one of the very few coasters that rode well with Morgans.

 

PTCs were just fine until the ratcheting lap bars started showing up (in 1990 on Thunder Run, GA Cyclone and TX Giant). Contrary to popular argument, the cars with heavier lap bar and lap bar "gear" (up to 200lbs per car) were dynamically very different and just plain heavier than the older model buzz bars. Add to that CCI building extremely aggressive rides with wooden coaster standards/forumulae for lighter, older buzz bar trains, and you get poor results: rough rides, horrible wear and tear, etc. And of course all that leads to addition of brakes, re-profiling; people stop liking the ride due to roughness, etc.

[larrygator]

This is really, really good news, they always had a broken train so they had 3 (!) train operation so 1 side was moving twice as fast as the other.

 

With LaRonde, fast and operations should never be used in the same sentence. Therefore what you meant to say is "one side was moving twice as slow as the other."

[GayCoasterGuy]

^Haha! I remember a friend was telling me about his visit to La Ronde with his family years ago, and he said there was so much line jumping and confusion, they ended up waiting in line for Le Monstre backwards. I mean, they were waiting in the wrong direction, a whole group, if that makes any sense.

[Meteornotes]

Interesting, but I doubt it will make a real difference in ride quality.

 

Yeah, pretty much the only way this is going to improve the ride is if the trains get dropped onto the coaster from a great height, knocking it down and forcing them to build something new. This ride is, um, not good...

 

dt

[booink]

I've got some news from the new Mack Aquatwist. The construction has just began ! The ride should open to the public on June 1rst. I've found a video on La Presse, a quebec newspaper, that shows the construction of the ride. It's in french, but I think the images can be understood by everyone .

 

http://www.lapresse.ca/videos/actualites/201305/13/46-1-laqua-twist-debarque-a-montreal.php/7e52ffdb676e4af38ca3bca1df319a31

 

Since it's opening day today, I'll visit this afternoon and if I can I'll try to grab pictures of the ride and of the new Le Monstre's PTC trains.

[booink]

Ok, so I'm back from opening day with about 50 pictures of the new stuff ! So first of all, let's talk about the rides, because it wasn't very good... A lot of them were closed. Le Vampire (Batman) got mechanical problems at the end of the day, Ednör (SLC) too, so I waited in line for it but I didn't get to ride it . Also, the Condor didn't even have the birds on it. So I got to ride Vol Ultime (Skyscreamer), Cobra (Stand-up), Grande Roue, Spirale, Tour de Ville and Pitoune. But I'll go back later in the season for the other coasters, that's not a problem .

 

Anyway, this post was more about the new stuff than complaining about what wasn't good, so here are the pictures. The Aquatwist is still in construction, but it's supposed to open on June 1rst. However it looked great ! Also Le Monstre was closed, so I didn't got "great" pictures of the trains, but I have one taken from the spiral.

 

Hello Ednör ! How it's going ?

Wait... I wasn't coming for that. I wanted to see the brand new Mack Aquatwist !

Basically, this ride consist of boats spinning around and pitching water at the others. Awesome !

Some pieces still waiting to be put in place...

The proof of quality !

In case you still didn't figure out where the ride was going to be, here it is !

Let's move on to Le Monstre, and the brand new PTC trains ! The yellow one is ready for testing !

The old Morgan trains are still lying near the station.

A closer look at the old Morgan trains

I also want to talk about something I think is very cool for families. For parents who would like to keep a memory of their child's first coaster, La Ronde installed cameras in each row of the Marche du Milles-Pattes, and they sell DVDs of those videos. I think that's quite a great idea !

 

If you look closely, you can see the camera at the front (it's the small black box)

This sign translates into "come see your child's face here ! The video of their ride is now available in blu-ray and DVD !"

That last picture is for Elissa :

 

In park Mcdonald's !!!

[ultradude306]

Planning a trip to la ronde this summer, and am looking forward to it. It would be nice to know how La Vampiar, Goliath and Le Monster are, as those are the rides I' most interested in riding. In addition, I'd also like to know if there's anything else I should go on while I'm there, as I haven't been since I was like 5 or 6 years old, and the park has probably changed a ton.

[booink]

^Goliath and Le Vampire are two really great B&M's, don't miss them ! Also, I think Le Monstre is very good, although some enthusiasts don't like it, I do . The Skyscreamer (Vol Ultime) is great too, it gives a great view of the park and of Montreal. The Pitoune log flume is very good. Le Dragon (indoor Intamin) is excellent, it's near the Ferris wheel. Finally, I think the Super Manège (Vekoma corskrew) is a little rough, but not that much, and it has airtime ! Unless you're a credit whore, don't ride le Cobra (Intamin stand-up), Boomerang (one of the roughest out there) and the SLC.

 

I must recommend you to get a Flash Pass, because on most days La Ronde gets REALLY packed.

 

Hope that will help !

[ultradude306]

^ Thank you very much.. so pumped to go now!

[narkitty]

Honestly, the SLC isn't that bad here, at least in my opinion. The theming in the queue is well done, and I really love the location of the ride itself. Being over water is exciting! Front row isn't too terribly rough....but it's still an SLC.

[ultradude306]

^ Well, it seems to be the same with my home park of Canada's Wonderland, where the front row on our SLC isn't half bad.

 

On another note, I've also learned that La Ronde has a slingshot (reverse bungee ride). I'm pretty pumped to ride it, but if anybody's done it before (or a similar ride), it would be great to know if it's worth the upcharge.

[julioot]

Wow that mack twist and splash is one ugly looking ride. This one might even be uglyer then the one in Slagharen (Netherlands).

 

[jansolee]

^ Well, it seems to be the same with my home park of Canada's Wonderland, where the front row on our SLC isn't half bad.

 

On another note, I've also learned that La Ronde has a slingshot (reverse bungee ride). I'm pretty pumped to ride it, but if anybody's done it before (or a similar ride), it would be great to know if it's worth the upcharge.

 

I haven't been on that particular slingshot, but I definitely think it's something you need to try at least once.

 

As for coasters to ride, I would add Cobra to the list. Not because I think it's an amazing ride (it's not), but because it is a relatively unique experience. There aren't many Intamin stand-ups lying around, from what I've gathered, and it's fun to compare it to your home Togo stand-up, Skyrider. Cobra is certainly smoother, but I happen to think that Skyrider is the better ride.

 

And despite all of the flack Le Monstre is getting in this thread, I still love it (especially when I compare it to Canada's Wonderland's wooden coasters).

[booink]

And despite all of the flack Le Monstre is getting in this thread, I still love it (especially when I compare it to Canada's Wonderland's wooden coasters).

 

Same for me !